Heaven or Hell (28 page)

“JJ, I’ve got to run an errand and I don’t want you here alone. Get in the car, please.” JJ was at the front door when his mother yelled to him. “Hurry.”

As they headed away from home, Teresa noticed a patrol car turning onto their street. She imagined the police were on the way to her house. Where else would they be headed at this time of day in her neighborhood? Great, now she was harboring a fugitive.

“Where are we going?” JJ asked. “You’re being weird, Mom.”

Teresa resisted the urge to scream at her son; instead, she gripped the steering wheel tighter and decided to go to her Aunt Jessie’s house. It’d give her some time to figure out what was going on with JJ, and maybe call the attorney her father had suggested.

“Well, I’m wondering why the police are so adamant about finding you. They showed up at your school. What is it you’re not telling me?” she asked.

JJ shook his head. “There’s nothing to tell, Mom.”

Adrenalin pumped through her body and seemed to have awakened her brain. No longer dwelling on the past, Teresa maneuvered the car through traffic as she spoke. “Did you get that phone number from Joe? You know, the attorney’s number …” she asked.

“No, but I can get it at Aunt Jessie’s house, on the Internet,” JJ answered.

Teresa focused on the road as the two of them drove the rest of the way to Aunt Jessie’s house in silence. What the hell had JJ gotten himself into?
His timing is horrid
, she thought while she pulled into her aunt’s driveway. Teresa hadn’t noticed the rain until it was time to get out of the car.

“Come on. Let’s make a run for it.” She grabbed her purse and held her jacket over her head. JJ held his backpack over his head and followed behind. They stood on the porch waiting for Teresa’s aunt to answer the door.

“I can’t believe this is happening,” Teresa said.

“Look, I’m not a criminal. I didn’t do anything wrong,” JJ pleaded.

Teresa’s aunt opened the door with bloodshot eyes. A smile filled her face when she saw who her visitors were. “Come in, come in. I’m glad you changed your mind.”

JJ dropped his head down as he entered the house. Her Aunt Jessie eyed JJ with an eyebrow raised.

“It’s a long story. Let’s talk over coffee.” Teresa pushed her son toward the kitchen table.

“I guess we’re outlaws now,” he mumbled.

“Stop being so melodramatic, JJ.” Teresa was more than annoyed with JJ’s behavior. It was so unlike him to get into trouble, and so unlike her to run from the police. Maybe they
were
fugitives.

“Well, then why don’t we just go down to the police station?” JJ focused on the ground.

“Because, JJ, something’s not right with your story,” Teresa snapped at her son and then turned toward her aunt, whose eyes were wide open.

“What’s going on here? When I last saw the two of you a few minutes ago you weren’t on America’s Most Wanted list,” Aunt Jessie said.

“Auntie, the police are looking for JJ. I’m not completely sure why.” Teresa sat down at the kitchen table and pulled JJ’s phone out of her purse. A new message had arrived from Seth that stated something about the car being reported stolen because “M” didn’t want to get in trouble. Teresa put the phone back in her purse.

“Why not call the police and find out why?” Aunt Jessie asked.

“No, we’re going to let our attorney handle it, as soon as I call him,” Teresa said with confidence, continuing with a mumbled, “just in case.”

Teresa helped herself to a cup of coffee and then sat quietly at the table considering the best way to handle JJ. While Aunt Jessie moved around in the kitchen unloading the dishwasher, Teresa remembered the spice cake recipe that she still had in her purse.

“Do we have time to try that recipe?” Teresa asked. She then spent a few seconds digging around her purse. “If you have all the ingredients, let’s try it.”

“What’s this?” Aunt Jessie grabbed the paper from Teresa, placed her glasses on her nose, and looked at the scrawled set of instructions.

“Oh, I haven’t talked to you.” Teresa tapped her forehead. “Yesterday, Joe said this is Mom’s spice cake recipe. She made him memorize it.”

Aunt Jessie placed her hand over her mouth in shock. “Mija, we’ve tried to get this right for years. Do you think it’s real?”

Teresa shrugged.

“Oh, Joe would be so happy if we made this work today—this bittersweet day.” Aunt Jessie dabbed at her eyes with the napkin she held. Then she set to work on the recipe, first digging through cabinets and drawers to pull out ingredients. She placed all the items on the counter.

Teresa turned her attention to JJ while her aunt puttered in the kitchen.

“So, JJ, who is ‘M’?” Teresa asked.

“Do you mean Murphy?” JJ responded.

“I don’t know. I’m asking you.” Teresa sipped her coffee and waited for her son to respond.

JJ played with the water bottle he’d removed from the fridge. “Murphy drove us to the party. It was his idea. We call him M. But how do you know that?”

“I’m asking the questions now.” Teresa heard the businesslike manner of her voice, which scared her a little—then she continued. “How come I’ve never heard his name before?”

“He’s not somebody I usually hang with, Mom. Murphy’s into some weird stuff.” JJ peeled the label off of his water bottle and avoided eye contact with her.

“Weird? How weird?” She wanted the details.

“Oh, not that way. He’s kind of a nerd. I’m talking Star Trekkie type nerd.” JJ looked up and directly at Teresa.

“How does a nerd like that get invited to a parking lot party?” She couldn’t make sense of her son’s story.

As they spoke, Aunt Jessie clanged around in the kitchen, pulling together the spice cake.

JJ looked down again, a sign that he wasn’t telling the absolute truth. “It was a flash mob, Mom. Murphy got the text, or no, no …” he stammered. “I think it was an e-mail. He said it would be fun to go see what it was like.”

“Okay, enough already. You’re not telling me everything, and you could be in some serious trouble. What’s a flash mob?” Teresa eyed JJ with the most intense stare she could muster.

“It’s like all these people meet in a public place and perform some sort of senseless act. These nerdy guys were trying to get a bunch of kids from school to fill up the parking lot outside of that bar. It wasn’t as big a turnout as they’d expected. Even so, they took a picture and posted it on the Internet. And when the fight broke out with some of the kids from our school, we took off running. I know that Murphy left his car there because he was afraid to go back. Sometimes the piece of junk doesn’t start. We had a long walk to the bus. It was stupid, but that’s it.”

“JJ, before we call the attorney, I need to know everything. Were you drinking or partying in any way?” Teresa asked.

“No. That’s what makes this so painful. At least I should’ve been doing something really wrong to get in this kind of trouble.” JJ’s voice rose up and his cheeks turned red.

“Okay, so why are the police focused on you?” Teresa thought this was odd.

“I don’t know. Maybe it has to do with my driver’s permit …” Tears welled up in JJ’s eyes, and his hands shook as he lifted the bottle of water to his mouth.

“What is it, son?” Teresa pleaded with him. “Don’t block me out of this—just tell me. I promise I won’t make it worse.”

“JJ, was a girl involved?” Aunt Jessie interrupted, flour in her hair and on the rims of her glasses that she peered over the top of. “Because this type of trouble usually involves a girl.”

JJ’s voice had a slight tremble as he spoke. “No.” He wiped his hands on his legs and stumbled over his own words. “But I may have been the reason the whole thing happened.” JJ let out a loud sigh.

Teresa shook her head, and although she was seeing red, she forced herself to stay quiet for a few seconds and then respond to her son in a calm manner. Otherwise, she knew he’d clam up again. “Okay,” she said in the nicest tone she could summon. “How did you cause it?”

JJ looked up and finally made eye contact with his mother. “I’m the ‘flashster.’ ”

Teresa told herself to lean back, nod, take a deep breath, and then speak. “What does that mean, son?”

“See, you’re calling me son.” JJ seemed to have panicked. “I knew you’d do that.”

Breathe … Go slow … He’s going to break …
“JJ, it’s okay. Just tell me what it means.”

He flicked at the single tiny crumb that remained on the table from Aunt Jessie’s last meal while he hesitated with his response. His eyes reflected some type of internal conflict as if he’d held a secret he hadn’t planned on sharing.

JJ’s shoulders slumped in defeat as he spoke. “I’ve been creating these flash mobs anonymously for a while. The principal has been trying to figure out who it is, but not for the same reason as the students. In fact, the kids at school see this guy as a hero. They named me the ‘flashster.’ You know, like a ‘mobster.’ I know if they find out it’s only me, all of my work … Well, they’re gonna hate me.”

A tear spilled down JJ’s cheek suddenly saddening Teresa’s own heart.

“It’s going to be okay, JJ.” She moved closer and rubbed his back. “You’ve got to tell this attorney everything, okay? And nobody’s going to hate you.”

JJ gulped some air as he tried to hold back on crying. The boy then nodded his approval.

“Okay, let’s call the attorney. What’s his number, JJ?” Teresa asked.

“I only have his name,” JJ said with a sniffle. “I can get it quick. Is it okay if I use your computer, Auntie?”

“Of course you can,” Aunt Jessie answered.

JJ hugged Teresa and said, “I’m sorry, Mom. I didn’t know this would happen”

Teresa patted her son’s back. “Okay, go get the number. We’ll see what we can do to get you out of this mess.”

JJ smiled slightly as he wiped the wetness off his cheeks with the back of his hands. The chair legs made a screeching noise on the floor when he slid out from the table and left the room.

Teresa stood up and grabbed the cleaning cloth. She began to follow behind her aunt wiping down the counters.

“I knew he was up to something,” Teresa said. She polished along the rim of the sink.

“Oh, he’s a boy. They all do crazy things. I’m sure he’ll be all right.” Aunt Jessie turned the mixer on.

Teresa busied herself cleaning, not knowing how to address the topic of her father. Aunt Jessie finished mixing and went on to grease the baking pan. The two moved in sync in the small kitchen, just like old times. Teresa’s heart sped up and she smiled at the thought of the several years she’d lived in this house.

“I was with your father when he took his last breath.” Jessie’s voice quavered, “I’m sorry about the whole thing.”

“Oh, Auntie—none of this is your fault.” Teresa moved to Aunt Jessie’s side and squeezed her aunt’s shoulders.

“I’m glad I was there.” Aunt Jessie filled the baking pan with batter and sprinkled the glaze over the top.

“Okay, I’ve got the number,” JJ interrupted, seemingly lighter, as if a load had been lifted. He handed Teresa a scrap of paper with the phone number scribbled on it next to the name, Steve Haut.

Teresa looked at the cake just before her aunt put it in the oven. “Hmm,” she said.

“I know. It looks good, doesn’t it?” Aunt Jessie grinned.

“What do we make of this if it does taste like Mom’s? It looks awfully familiar,” Teresa said. Could her father have remembered the recipe after all these years?

“It’s been a while since we’ve tried this, hasn’t it? Although this attempt is much different than all the other times …” Jessie set the timer on the oven, poured herself a fresh cup of coffee, and sat down at the table.

Teresa dialed the attorney’s number though she continued to clean the kitchen. She spent about five minutes on the phone with him after she got past his condolences for her recent loss. Apparently Los Angeles was a smaller city than she thought. Word got around. For a moment she thought it probably hadn’t been such a good idea to call somebody her father had referred, but she really didn’t know who else to call. By the end of the conversation, however, she believed contacting the man was the right thing to do, because now JJ definitely had an excellent attorney.

“Okay, JJ, he’s going to make some calls and then get back to me. He said he’s very well connected at the police station. He used to be a cop.” Teresa stood in the kitchen and pulled out some more cleaning supplies. “He suggested we lay low until he gets the story—and if we don’t hear back from him in two hours, I need to call him again.”

“What are you going to do, scrub down my whole kitchen?” Aunt Jessie asked.

“Well …” Teresa said coyly. “It makes me feel better. Do you mind?”

Aunt Jessie snickered. “Are you kidding? Knock yourself out, kiddo.”

Teresa cleaned the kitchen, and then contacted her store and made sure her part-timers were working and handling customers. JJ played for a while on the Internet, and Aunt Jessie watched the stove and waited for the cake.

Once the timer beeped, the three of them gathered around the table, forks in hand. Then Aunt Jessie laid the cake on a hot pad in the middle of the table. Teresa bent over and spun the cake around examining the familiarity of the desert.

“This looks good, Tia,” she said.

“Careful, it’s hot,” Aunt Jessie responded.

Teresa dug her fork into the cake and blew on the steaming hot bite that sat on the edge of the tines. Finally, she bit down on the piece of cake and smiled. “It’s good, really good,” she said with her mouth full.

Together, the three of them ate the cake directly from the pan and toasted Joe with their coffee cups.

“What do you think?” Aunt Jessie asked, “Could it be the right recipe?”

Teresa patted her stomach and said, “It’s the closest we’ve ever come to getting it right. Joe did good.”

CHAPTER 26
 

FATHER BENJAMIN CLEARED HIS CALENDAR—MEETINGS AND all—for the remainder of the week. The entire congregation, including the kitchen folks, had rallied to complete Juan’s funeral preparations. In the latter years of the man’s life he’d affected a lot of people, while in his death he was already missed by many.